Leaving La Paz

Well.. we did it.
Tomorrow, I leave La Paz and head to destination LOS CABOS. I thought for sure, that Cabo would be my favorite place on tour... but the more I think about having to leave La Paz, the more my heart hurts. I don't want to leave this host family. I love it here. The people are amazing..

Our show had probably a good 2,000 people in attendance. The children would stand in the aisles and dance with us. Here, we are like little celebrities. I am not even kidding... they treat us like royalty. People stop us on the street during community impact activities to sign things, and to give hugs to the cast of "Vive la Gente"... they jump up and down, and stand and take pictures with us. They come out of their houses bearing gifts when they see us in their communities. One even invited a few of us into her home to talk to her family. Its really insanely amazing.
I speak much better Spanish now than i ever did in school. You really do get better with practice. At home, my host parents often speak to me in Spanish. I told them when I arrived that I was determined to be more fluent in the language before I left. It is working. Just hearing people talk all the time in a new language, you pick it up bit by bit... and can understand a lot of unfamiliar words just through context. But yeah. Lots of people have been going on interviews... TV, radio, you name it... its around us. We were doing a community impact project the other day... and unannounced... like 5 different stations/newspapers all arrived... and put us on the spot. Our cast is on the news nightly. Its like we have a personal paparazzi at our events... esta muy bien. ;-)
Our show went well... despite some minor glitches here and there. It was a miracle that we even had a show, given the weather of the day. It rained...yes... rained. Fantastic little drops poured from the skies. Good, in that it kept us cool during our outdoor "rehearsal".. bad, in that it made extra work for the tech team, who had to reset everything do all lighting and sound checks over once the rains stopped. We hardly practiced all day.. because it was impossible due to safety reasons to do anything full out. We were in a baseball stadium, so getting wet was unavoidable. We changed in the sand, grit, and mud... and made it happen.
It was awesome. I danced with a little girl with Downs syndrome, and she told me I was beautiful. It made my night. Also, I got to see Osmara sing up on stage... she is so sweet. And she even remembered me!!! - I went over prior to the show, to say hi... and asked if she knew who I was ... she replied "si..." and then held up her little hands and started to sign to me, as we had at the BTS show. Amazing. I am so glad that we could give back to this community, and these people, who so lovingly have opened their homes and hearts to welcome us... as more than just Vive La Gente... but as host sisters, brothers, and children.
Strike for the show wasn't complete until like... 2am. Made for a really long day... but well worth it. Today, I slept late, because my host parents are awesome like that... and let me wake up on my own. My mom took us shopping- and I got a tortuga (turtle magnet, made of shell) and some jewelry. We then stopped by my dad's work, as well as the Government Palace (where she gave us an awesome history lesson... because she is a teacher and is muy inteligente) and headed home briefly to freshen up. We went to the movies - which was fun, and much cheaper than such an excursion in the States. Finally, we stopped at a super yummy Chinese restaurant on the way home. Can I just tell you what an interesting feeling it is... to be sitting in a CHINESE restaurant... being waited on by Mexicans... and reading the names of the Chinese foods... in Spanish. Once in a lifetime expereinces... of this I am positive.
Our rains... apparently came from tropical storm Julio. It is moving up the Baja peninsula.. it may cause further issues for our cast tomorrow, as we are scheduled to depart La Paz for Cabo at 1. The storm, is in Cabo currently, and has flooded many of the roadways. You see, because it doesn't rain here much... the roads have no drainage system. Because of this, the water collects into massive puddles (and flowing streams) in the streets. Whole streets are washed out, and inaccessible in the rains. Hopefully, we don't get stranded...

Adios for now...
Pictures to follow :-)